The Head of Mental Health for NHS England is set to join Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust in a new directorship role in the coming weeks.

Amélie Bages will become Director of Strategy and Partnerships, a board level role that seeks to further develop and deliver an ambitious strategic vision that results in patients and service users receiving outstanding care by an outstanding team.

She will also oversee and lead on enhancing multiple connections with the emerging Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care System (BOB ICS) as well as with other neighbouring NHS organisations and educational institutions.

Amélie will start work on April 25.

Oxford Health is rated ‘Good’ by the Care Quality Commission, but the Trust is striving to achieve the highest rating of ‘Outstanding’. The Board of Directors’ view is that the key to this shift is a cultural transformation that creates the best possible staff experience and working environments.

Amélie will also be tasked with building on Oxford Health’s existing work as the lead organisation in provider collaboratives – working with other NHS organisations and other care providers – to provide more joined up care and flexibility at both a local and integrated care system level.

She will also be committed to further expanding the Trust’s research capacity and capability with further collaborations with local academic partners, including the University of Oxford.

Chief Executive Dr Nick Broughton said: “Amélie’s energy and expertise will help lift the organisation to be truly outstanding in every sense. She is an exceptional and intellectually sophisticated leader who fully appreciates the potential of integrated care systems that will advance Oxford Health’s role in mental and physical health services for the benefit of the communities we serve.”

In Amélie’s current role at NHS England, a position she has held for more than three years, she has overseen the finance, planning, strategy, performance, delivery, and equalities work for the National Mental Health Programme. This covers government spending reviews, leading on business cases and negotiations, integrated care systems and operating model development work.

In 2019, she led the development of the NHS Long Term Plan for mental health, securing an additional £2.3bn funding for mental health services across England. Most recently, as part of the National Mental Health Senior Leadership Team, she worked closely with the Department of Health and Social Care to secure an additional £500m of funding for mental health services in 2021/22 to address the immediate impact of Covid-19, as published in the Government’s Covid-19 Mental Health and Wellbeing Recovery Action Plan.

Her work with large acute trusts in London including the Royal Free presented her with opportunities to see first-hand the benefits of embedding research and innovation in the delivery of care and also as part of a wider organisational transformation approach, and she is excited by the prospect of supporting the Trust to achieve its goals in this area.

Amélie said : “I am really happy to be joining Oxford Health and moving to Oxford. I am very enthusiastic about the Trust’s ambition of excellence and its focus on being a great place to work.  I believe that creating a strong, inclusive, and attractive culture within the NHS is key to innovation, successful strategic transformation, and to delivering the best possible care for our patients and the communities in which we work. I cannot wait to join the team!”